Paul Anyebe was a judge of the High Court of Benue State in north-central Nigeria who had a young son with sticky fingers and a sense of adventure. It was his role as a dad that endangered his job as a judge.

One night around 1983, Anyebe caught his son attempting to steal from his bedroom. In response, Anyebe pulled his gun in an effort to scare the boy. The gun went off, discharging a bullet which hit and seriously injured the boy. The Attorney-General of Benue State decided to prosecute Anyebe for attempted murder. The Penal Code applicable in Benue State at the time had ample provisions for the crime of attempted murder.

The Attorney-General also added a charge of illegal possession of firearms, a federal offence. Unlike the crime of attempted murder, which was a state crime in Benue State, all firearms offences are federal. The Attorney-General of Benue was well within his powers to prosecute for attempted murder but only the Attorney-General of the Federation could prosecute or authorize prosecution for federal offences.

At the conclusion of the trial, the High Court of Benue State discharged Anyebe on the charge of attempted murder, a state offence, but convicted him on the charge of illegal possession of firearms (a federal offence) for which it sentenced him to three years in prison. The Court of Appeal reduced this sentence to six months in prison or a fine of one hundred Naira. Following this decision and while his appeal was yet to be heard by the Supreme Court, Anyebe was dismissed as a judge.

When the Supreme Court decided Anyebe’s appeal in January 1986, Dahunsi Olugbemi Coker, a Justice of the court, summed up the issue for decision in one sentence: “The short point is whether a State Attorney-General can prosecute an offence created by an Act of the National Assembly.” To this question, the court unanimously responded in the negative. They nullified Anyebe’s trial and ordered the fine paid  – one hundred Naira – refunded to him. The Court of Appeal ordered his reinstatement with full benefits.

Adolphus Godwin Karibi-Whyte, one of the justices who decided Anyebe’s appeal at the Supreme Court, said of what the case decided that ”the Attorney-General of a State has no general authority to exercise the powers of the Attorney-General of the Federation to prosecute in respect of Federal offences.”

One effect of this decision is to preclude the prosecution of federal crimes before state courts. A Magistrates Court is a state court. It does not have jurisdiction over federal crimes.

38 years after the Supreme Court of Nigeria established this principle in Anyebe’s case, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) on 4 December arraigned lawyer and writer, Dele Farotimi, before a Magistrate in Ekiti State on 16 counts of crimes under the Criminal Code Act, a federal legislation.

Three years ago, Ekiti State enacted into law the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, no. 12 of 2021, which repealed and replaced the state’s pre-existing Criminal Code Law of 2012. Comprising nine parts, 429 sections and 140 pages, Ekiti State’s Criminal Law of 2021 does not include the crime Criminal libel or defamation. Section 70 of the law contains a crime of causing disaffection or breach of the peace through offensive publication but that is a simple offence punishable by six months in prison. It is not in issue in this case.

Last week, on 3 December, operatives of the NPF heisted Dele Farotimi from his residence in Lagos State, where the crime of criminal defamation is similarly unknown to law. They raced him across state lines to Ekiti where they detained him. The following morning, on 4 December, the police arraigned Dele before a Magistrate in the state capital.

This is important because the gist of the charges purportedly preferred against Farotimi before the Magistrate in Ekiti is precisely criminal defamation which is not a crime in Ekiti State.

It seemed quite clear that the charges presented by the police did not disclose a crime known to the laws of Ekiti State nor did they disclose a crime over which a Magistrate in Ekiti State could purport to exercise lawful jurisdiction. Despite the evident absence of jurisdiction on multiple fronts, the Magistrate proceeded with undue haste to order the remand of Farotimi in prison custody for one week until 10 December. The Magistrate probably did not realise that 10 December is International Human Rights Day.

Even if the Magistrate had jurisdiction, which he did not, the crime alleged was punishable with two years in prison. Under section 4(5) of the Criminal Law of Ekiti State, this is classed as a “misdemeanor” at best, that is to say “an offence punishable by imprisonment for not less than six months, but less than three years.” These are bailable on liberal terms. Offences punishable by more than three years in prison are called “felonies”. Those are regarded as serious offences. The order of remand in this case seemed wilful with a whiff of the pre-determined about it.

The United Nations Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power has a name for what happens when a court orders prison remand for a crime which does not exist in law and in proceedings over which it lacks powers. It is called “criminal abuse of power.”

Many people claiming to be senior lawyers have invited Farotimi to have his day in court where he can prove the allegations the subject of these charges or face the consequences. This is clearly designed to make all this seem like an invocation of law. It isn’t.

First, Farotimi can only do so before a court of competent jurisdiction. A Magistrate claiming to sit over a crime that does not exist in the state is not such a court.

Second, the burden in criminal proceedings is on the state to prove that the accused is guilty. So, criminal proceedings in Ekiti or anywhere cannot possibly be the forum for Farotimi to prove the truth of his claims. Anyone who makes that assertion is either wilfully jejune or must concede that the only opportunity to put that to test has to be in civil proceedings.

Third, insisting on the kind of proceedings now going on in Ekiti state without any sense of irony only reinforces the kinds of claims that Farotimi makes in his best-selling book about supposedly legal and judicial processes which seem to occur in the pockets of human principalities given to playing god. A lot of things may yet happen in those kinds of proceedings but it does not look like law will be one of them.

Moreover, in 2021, the Supreme Court of Nigeria – no less –  condemned as “vexatious and oppressive” and “dangerously rampant”, the “misuse of the criminal law machinery for getting reliefs in disputes that are civil in nature, by using the instruments of State.” The court also required that “a complainant who initiates a prosecution with the knowledge that criminal proceedings are unwarranted and the remedy lies in the civil law, should be made accountable in law for pursuing misconceived criminal proceedings.”

In that same case in 2021, the Supreme Court described the crime of criminal defamation as “an innovation in Star Chamber”, a reference to a notoriously arbitrary and captured judicial forum dating back to late mediaeval England. It was not a judicial endearment.

Farotimi himself was perspicacious about the events as they have so far unfolded. Shortly before he was taken from Lagos, he warned: “Abducting me to be tried in Ekiti State is not justice but a witch-hunt.”

Somewhere in Ekiti State on International Human Rights Day 2024, the very rights consecrated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will face the Guillotine with Farotimi strung up as the sacrifice. Those who think this vindication may yet live to rue their affliction with terminal hubris.

** A professor of law, Odinkalu can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• A “supergiant” gold ore deposit under an existing gold mine in China could be the world’s largest gold ore deposit.
• Officials estimate that the extent of the find could be 1,100 tons stretching as deep as 9,800 feet below the surface.
• The find also shows promise as that of a high-quality producer of gold.

A deposit of gold ore just discovered in China isn’t just giant. It’s supergiant. So much so, in fact, that Chinese experts claim it could be the largest deposit of any precious metal—not just gold ore—in existence today.

How big is the “supergiant” deposit located under the Wangu gold field in the Hunan province? Experts estimate it at 1,100 tons.

According to Chinese state media, a team of geologists detected over 40 gold veins of roughly 330 tons of gold ore dipping 6,600 feet deep under Pingjiang County’s Wangu gold field. But 3D modeling blows that number out of the water, showing there could be as much as 1,100 tons as deep as 9,800 feet. If the models are accurate, the deposit in its entirely could be worth roughly $83 billion.

Adding some more heft to the already weighty (literally) find was the report that the new discovery features 138 grams of gold per metric ton of ore, a valuable rate not often found in gold mining. “Many drilled rock cores showed visible gold,” said Chen Rulin, an ore-prospecting expert at China’s Hunan Province’s Geological Bureau, according to Chinese state media.

If the 1,100-ton figure holds up, that makes this new find the largest gold mine in the world, even outpacing South Africa’s South Deep gold mine with its 1,025 tons of gold, according to Mining Technology. Mines in Indonesia, Russia, New Guinea, and Chile round out the top-five gold mines in the world. The Carlin Trend and Cortez gold mines, both in Nevada, are ranked sixth and 10th worldwide.

Historically, the world has mined 233,000 tons of gold, all of it still around in some form, and two-thirds of that mining has occurred since 1950.

Already the world’s top gold producer with about 10 percent of global production, China is heavily dependent on the metal, using about three times more gold than it mines annually. A rate that requires the country to purchase so much gold from other countries that it’s also the world’s top importer of the valuable metal. This new discovery has put the world’s gold markets on notice, enough so that the price of gold rose to $2,700 per ounce, according to CCN.com.

And the gold news may not stop there. According to Liu Yongjun, vice head of the bureau, additional gold ore was found when drilling around the site’s peripheral areas.

Popular Mechanics

Days after the Central Bank of Nigeria ordered Deposit Money Banks to guard against artificial cash scarcity in the country, findings by Sunday PUNCH revealed that the trend still persists in some parts of the country.

In a circular dated November 29, jointly signed by Acting Directors Solaja Olayemi (Currency Operations) and Isa-Olatinwo Aisha (Branch Operations), the CBN outlined measures aimed at improving cash availability.

According to the circular, the CBN directed banks to ensure efficient cash disbursement through both Automated Teller Machines and over-the-counter channels, warning of penalties for non-compliance.

The apex bank also urged customers experiencing challenges to report incidents with details such as account name, bank name, transaction amount, and date. Dedicated phone numbers and email addresses were released for Nigerians to report difficulties accessing cash.

However, as of Friday, Nigerians in some major cities complained that they still experienced significant difficulty obtaining sufficient cash over the counters and at ATMs in commercial banks.

An Abuja resident, who declined to be named, said his bank only dispensed N5,000 over the counter on Friday.

When asked whether this was a bank-wide directive, she stated that it might be due to the limited cash available, adding that customers were often advised to use ATMs.

He said, “As of Friday, it was just N5,000. But if the ATM is loaded, you can withdraw as much as it dispenses. That’s probably all the bank could afford on Friday. Most times, customers are advised to use the ATM, which dispenses fresh mints.”

Similarly, a United Bank for Africa customer in Abuja said his bank dispensed N20,000 over the counter, while ATMs dispensed N20,000 to customers and N10,000 to customers of other banks as of Friday.

A Zenith Bank official in Delta State revealed that their branch paid a maximum of N20,000 to customers, both over the counter and through ATMs.

“It’s N20,000 maximum. The ATM also dispenses N20,000,” she stated.

A Lagos resident, Tunde Ajiboye, shared on Facebook that he withdrew N20,000 from a GTBank ATM in Ikorodu and later withdrew another N30,000 over the counter at Lotus Bank, also in Ikorodu, on Friday afternoon.

In Akure, Ondo State, the cash crunch was also pronounced. A resident, Oluwaseyi Oluwalade, said he visited an ATM terminal in Akure but couldn’t withdraw any cash.

“I rushed to a PoS operator, but I still didn’t get cash. I was asked to make a transfer, which I did on Friday, but I could only collect the cash on Saturday afternoon,” he lamented.

Another Akure resident, Adeniyi Samuel, who works for OPay, confirmed complaints from PoS operators about insufficient cash in banks.

“Many of our operators rely on filling station attendants or BDC operators to get cash because banks give very little over the counter or at ATMs,” he explained.

In Imo State, residents also decried withdrawal limits.

A resident, who asked to be identified only as Onyekachi, said, “We cannot withdraw more than N20,000 in the banking hall. You spend so much time, only to be given a maximum of N20,000. It’s frustrating.”

A similar scenario unfolded in Abia State, where banks limited withdrawals to between N5,000 and N20,000. ATMs dispensed as little as N5,000 to non-customers and N10,000 to customers.

In Kwara, residents also struggled to access cash.

Ibrahim Taiwo, a resident of Ilorin, said banks paid a maximum of N10,000 over the counter and N40,000 at ATMs. He noted that PoS operators increased their charges by N50 across withdrawal amounts.

In Osun and Oyo states, withdrawal limits varied between N10,000 and N50,000, depending on the bank and location.

Reacting to the situation, a source at the CBN accused some banks of favouring high-end customers by giving them bulk cash at the expense of ordinary Nigerians. The source assured that the CBN was committed to penalising erring banks.

However, a banker in Ogun State accused the CBN of being insincere, claiming, “The amount given to us is not enough to load ATMs for two days.”

A Polaris Bank staff member in Lagos linked the scarcity to the naira redesign policy under former CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele. He noted that the policy destroyed old naira notes but failed to replace them with adequate new notes, leading to persistent scarcity.

“People are skeptical about depositing money in banks, fearing a repeat of last year’s issues. This is affecting the availability of cash,” he concluded.

The National President of Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria, Fasasi Atanda, accused petrol stations, supermarket operators, traders, and other businesses that handle large volumes of cash daily of contributing to the current cash scarcity.

Atanda alleged that instead of depositing their cash earnings into banks as expected, those entities hoarded the money and sold it at inflated rates to cash dealers.

“There is no reason for cash scarcity if there are no saboteurs. There is cash commoditisation. Today, we have saboteurs who are dealing in the sale of cash. They sell cash in bulk; they have their sources, and they buy in bulk and sell. What you can’t get in the banks, you will get from cash dealers.

“We are aware of petrol stations, restaurants, supermarket operators, and others selling their cash instead of depositing it in banks.

“People often wrongly accuse agents of selling cash. Agents are not selling cash, we are servicing the people and the charges are for the cost of data and transportation. In reality, if the government can take care of these costs, agents can render their services free of charge,” Atanda said.

He urged the CBN to engage PoS operators as official agents of cash distribution, adding that this would address the challenge of cash scarcity in the country.

The acting Director of Corporate Communications for the CBN, Hakama Sidi Ali, did not respond to calls and a text message sent to her phone as of press time.

Punch

Human rights activists are preparing for a coordinated protest on Tuesday, December 10, demanding the release of Dele Farotimi, despite police attempts to prohibit the demonstration. The planned protests will span multiple locations, including Ekiti, Lagos, Abuja, and London.

Farotimi was arrested following a defamation petition filed by Afe Babalola after publishing allegations of judicial corruption in his book, 'Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System'. The Nigerian Bar Association has argued that the arrest is questionable, pointing out that criminal defamation has been decriminalised under Lagos State law and previously invalidated by a Supreme Court ruling.

Omoyele Sowore, the 2023 African Action Congress presidential candidate, is spearheading the protest efforts. He has announced specific meeting points for demonstrators:

- Abuja: Ministry of Justice and Federal High Court

- Ekiti: Police Headquarters in Ado-Ekiti

- Lagos: Afe Babalola Chambers in Magodo

- London: King's College London

The Ekiti State Police Command has warned against the protest, claiming intelligence suggests potential violence. However, Sowore insists that the protests will proceed, stating that the police cannot ban peaceful demonstrations.

The activists aim to draw national and international attention to what they describe as Farotimi's illegal detention, with Sowore calling for a "global online and offline revolt against the Nigerian judiciary."

The protest is scheduled for 7 AM West African Time on December 10, 2024, with transportation arranged for out-of-state participants.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Hamas releases video claiming to show living hostage

Hamas released a video claiming to show Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker in captivity on Saturday.

In the video a man who introduces himself as Matan Zangauker, 24, can be seen pleading with the Israeli leaders to make a deal that would bring captives being held by Hamas in Gaza back to Israel.

Mediating countries, including Qatar, see increased momentum for a possible deal that could allow the 100 hostages being held in Gaza to be released in exchange for scores of Palestinian prisoners, after Israel signed a landmark ceasefire deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon last month.

Donald Trump's Middle East envoy has travelled to Qatar and Israel to try to kickstart the U.S. president-elect's diplomatic push for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal before he takes office on Jan. 20, a source briefed on the talks told Reuters.

Hamas has released several videos of hostages begging to be released over the course of the war as it enters its fifteenth month, but Israeli officials have dismissed the short, edited clips as psychological propaganda meant to put pressure on the government.

The Hostage Families Forum, which represents hostage family members, called the video "proof of life" and said that it "provides further evidence that after more than 420 days in captivity, there are hostages still alive and enduring severe suffering".

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian attacks kill 12, wound 40 in Ukraine's southeast

Russian attacks on the cities of Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih in southeastern Ukraine on Friday killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 40, regional officials said.

A strike on a car repair shop in Zaporizhzhia turned the facility into a giant fireball and killed 10 people, the regional governor said.

Media quoted a local official as saying 24 people were injured, including two children.

Some settlements experienced power supply problems after the attack, the governor added.

In Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's hometown, also in the southeast, a missile strike on an administrative building killed two people.

At least 19 others, including a child, were injured, emergency services said, adding that residential houses were also damaged.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Over a million men have illegally fled Ukraine – MP

Ukrainian authorities estimate that as many as 1.2 million men have fled the country illegally since the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022, MP Anna Skorokhod has said.

The lawmaker cited internal statistics in an interview with journalist Lana Shevchuk on Thursday. In addition to draft dodgers, roughly 8 million Ukrainian citizens have left the country legally, she said. Another 2 million resided outside Ukraine before the conflict escalated, Skorokhod added.

The MP did not specify whether she was including Ukrainian citizens who have fled to Russia and Belarus rather than Western countries. She offered the numbers when discussing possible elections in Ukraine and how the government could engage voters living abroad.

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has suspended elections in the country citing martial law and remains in power despite his presidential term expiring in May.

In mid-November, Zelensky announced the imminent creation of a National Unity Ministry. The new department is superseding a previous one tasked with returning “temporarily occupied territories” – the former parts of Ukraine that joined Russia over the past decade.

Earlier this week, the parliament approved Aleksey Chernishov as the first unity minister. The official previously served as the chair of state-owned energy giant Naftogaz.

Interviewer Shevchuk joked that the new ministry’s shorthand name, ‘minyed’, sounded close to ‘fellatio’ in Ukrainian, prompting Skorokhod to share her thoughts about its purpose. The MP believes that Zelensky is preparing for an end to the armed conflict with Russia and a presidential election. The new ministry will need to establish where Ukrainian citizens currently reside and engage them on behalf of Kiev, she explained.

That theory explains the situation better than Zelensky, who touted the new ministry as part of his “resilience plan,” the MP claimed.

“[Zelensky] used many big words in his speech before the parliament, and for each one, you could invent a ministry,” she said. “Chat GPT could have written a better plan.”

Last week, the Ukrainian media reported on a recent opinion poll which suggested that just 16% of Ukrainian voters would back Zelensky in a hypothetical presidential election, compared to 27% who would prefer the country’s former top general, Valery Zaluzhny.

Draft avoidance has been a major obstacle to Kiev’s plans to bolster the military through mandatory conscription, following an overhaul of the military service system earlier this year.

Reuters/RT

Nigerian lawyers and judges are the absolute worst thing ever. And we should all be very, very worried about that.

The date was May 15, 2023, and the venue was the ILEC Conference Centre in West London. I was preparing to deliver my keynote address at a press conference organised by the Coalition of Nigerians Living in the United Kingdom. Nigeria’s 2023 ‘elections’ had allegedly taken place a few weeks prior, and amid the flurry of post-election legal actions and intense diplomatic back-and-forth happening at the time, I had accepted the invitation to speak at this event.

I saw it as a strategic opportunity to add my strength to the coalition of strong opposition voices present, and to increase pressure on the watching international community, so I bought a Kenya Airways ticket and landed at Heathrow a few days before the event.

The press conference had been initially billed to hold in Westminster at the Royal Institute of International Affairs - Chatham House as it is more commonly known - but apparently, once the organisers shared the speakers list, which read like The Avengers of Nigeria’s so-called ‘Obidient’ movement, Chatham House had developed cold feet. No explanation was offered. Similarly, after initially agreeing to cover the press conference, ITV, BBC, and all of Fleet Street’s press establishment suddenly pulled out a day to the event within a few hours of each other. All of this was certainly not due to orders from above, because as we all know, the UK has a fReE pReSs™️.

Of all the invited media houses, only Ben TV would end up showing up at the press conference - with a solitary camera and a (Nigerian) reporter who made absolutely no attempt to hide his pro-APC sympathies. After trying unsuccessfully to trip me up in an interview afterward and having subsequently exchanged numbers with me, I later saw one of those “Igbo people should go back to Anambra and stop trying to take over our Lagos!” videos on his WhatsApp status. Apparently, you could take the semi-literate Nigerian man out of Okemesi and even give him a job in London, but all the snow in the Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham could not smother the volcanic foolishness that lived inside his head.

I blocked him and deleted his number, but I completely digress.

That day was when I met Dele Farotimi for the first time, and I immediately learned 2 important things about him. The first was that his on-screen persona and his off-screen persona were exactly the same - what you saw was exactly what you got with this man. While I had spent £250 at H&M on what I thought was a befitting suit to wear to the event, D.F. showed up wearing a green variation of the same basic kaftan I had seen him wear dozens of times since 2020. He clearly was not there to appeal to anybody’s delicate sensibilities.

This was further emphasised by the second thing I learned about him when he addressed the press conference - D.F. was willing to look any audience in the eye and speak the truth the way he saw it. This man genuinely did not care who received his message or how they received it. He said what he said, he meant what he said, and how you felt about it was entirely your business.

Speaking to me privately afterward, D.F. told me plainly, “I like what you are doing, but what we are fighting against is bigger than just criminals who steal elections. We are fighting an entire system. To do this, your face has to show. You have to come out of hiding. You have to challenge them in the open like me. I am not in hiding. These people need to see that you are not scared of them.”

While I did not end up taking this particular piece of advice immediately, what I ended up taking away from our encounter that spring afternoon in West London was that unlike most Nigerians of his professional background, D.F. operated by a very clear moral, ethical and professional code. The person he was in front of the cameras was the same person he was when the cameras stopped rolling. Whatever message he put out into the world was genuinely geared toward helping Nigerians to live good lives and have nice things.

In the course of my career, I had come across many, many Nigerian legal professionals across many professional and personal situations. I had butted heads with some in court. I had publicly battled with some who had made uncharitable comments about my work. I had argued fruitlessly with many, trying to get them to see why 2+2 can only ever be 4. Over time, I came to understand that the Nigerian legal profession - in and of itself - was one of the very worst things about Nigeria.

If you were looking for a professional space that simultaneously wielded real influence in Nigeria while failing to conduct itself more competently than the National Union of Road Transport Workers, it was the Nigerian legal fraternity. If you wanted an example of a highly skilled professional who behaved as though they had a severe self-esteem deficit, it was the Nigerian Lawyer.

If you wanted a successful professional whom you could watch deliver one professional opinion one day, and a directly contradictory one the next, it was his cousin the Nigerian Judge. If you thrived in a chaotic, unstructured, recklessly subjective environment where nothing was true, nothing was false, and material facts where whatever somebody decided they were, you were probably meant to become a Nigerian lawyer.

For a Nigerian legal professional, D.F. was in footballing terms, a left-footed, 6-foot centre-forward who could also play on both wings, drop deep, go in goal, oversee training sessions, mentor his teammates, sign up new kit sponsors, and help the club file its taxes. “Rarity” and “unicorn” were 2 words that came to mind.

Unfortunately, Nigeria has a nasty, regular habit of attacking its best things while at the same time peacefully tolerating the very worst of itself without protest. So here we are, a year and half since that press conference in London, and D.F. now sits in Ado Ekiti prison, courtesy of a kangaroo police action ordered by a kangaroo court puppeted by the S.I. unit of the Nigerian Kangaroo Lawyer - a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

The Nigerian Legal Profession - A Stupid Snake That Eats Itself

The Ouroboros Across Different Religions and Mythologies: Norse Legend

According to Greek mythology, ‘Ouroboros,’ the mythical snake that eats its own tail is a symbol of simultaneous creation and destruction, denoting the continuous cycle of birth and death. The snake’s tail, which is destroyed in the belly of the snake, simultaneously helps to grow its body by the exact length that is lost to its mouth. Thus, while an ordinary snake eating its own tail would normally lead to its death, the magical Ouroboros gets to live eternally at the junction of death and regeneration.

The Nigerian legal profession is not the Ouroboros.

I mean it’s a snake, and it eats its own tail, but the similarities end there. It hungrily devours its own tail, having mistaken it for food. Instead of regenerating like the mythical creature, however, the Nigerian legal snake ends up eating itself, losing blood, and getting smaller until it eventually digests itself and dies. No magic there.

Just a small, stupid snake, with more appetite than brains.

Think about it: what false, stupid, asinine, ridiculous, ludicrous, absurd, idiotic, mindless, cretinous, unintelligent, puerile, fatuous, nonsensical position or argument have you not heard from the Nigerian Lawyer and his cousin the Nigerian Judge? How many mind-numbingly daft arguments and judgments have you heard over the past 4 years? I didn’t say over the past 10, 20 or 50 years - just the past 4 years alone?

Was it the person who came 4th in a state governorship election being declared winner by the Supreme Court of Nigeria, which arrived at this on the sole basis of forged results provided by the 4th place finisher - where the number of votes cast exceeded the total number of accredited votes in the election? Check. Or was it the Chief Justice of Nigeria - head of one of the country’s 3 independent arms of government - being removed from office by a goddamn ex-parte order? Check.

Source: Law.com

If we go further back a bit, how about a Nigerian lawyer arguing in court that his client is not the same person as an ex-convict of the same name and birthday, because while the “other” person of the same name and birth date also coincidentally committed the same offense as his client and was “sentenced” for it, there was no record of the “conviction,” ergo they were not the same person? Yes, this actually happened, and the argument that James Onanefe Ibori, ex-convict born August 4, was not the same person as James Onanefe Ibori, ex-convict born August 4, was accepted by Nigeria’s judiciary, up to and including the Supreme Court.

How about a Senior Advocate of Nigeria making the argument that his client’s involvement in drug trafficking in the USA was not a matter for an election tribunal in Nigeria (even though his client was running for president in Nigeria) because the American court decision was not “registered” in Nigeria? How about the same SAN arguing that the forfeiture judgment (seizure of $460,000 being proceeds of heroin trafficking) meant that it was his client’s bank accounts that were guilty, so his client was innocent of the offense? Check.

How about the same legal luminary arguing in the same court that his client did not have citizenship of another country without disclosing it (something that would be expressly forbidden under Nigerian electoral law), because even though he did in fact have another country’s passport, the passport had expired, and apparently the citizenship expired along with it? Yes, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria made that argument in court.

How about a random lawyer on Twitter - who wasn’t even getting paid for it - arguing that an election candidate’s prior involvement in drug trafficking did not preclude him from running in the election because more than 10 years had passed since the sentencing? What type of mind thinks this up and decides, “I’m going to put this out there because it will show that I know the law, unlike those civilians on Twitter”?

How about another Senior Advocate of Nigeria going on live national television to claim that a comprehensive 49-page US federal forfeiture order for proceeds of heroin trafficking was “speculative” and that the $460,000 seized - clearly explained in the forfeiture order as “proceeds of heroin distribution activity” - was for “back taxes on investments”? Of course.

How about the legal definition of the word “AND” going all the way to the Supreme Court, which then effectively rewrote the existing law by interpreting it in a way it had never been interpreted in the history of Nigeria before? And this incredible, unprecedented ruling coincidentally happened to be in the favour of the incumbent government which still cannot prove how it supposedly won the election? Check.

Think about a scenario where a political candidate is accused of submitting a forged certificate with his declaration form and his opponent puts this issue to the court. What if the Nigerian Judge then issued a judgment saying that whether the candidate in fact submitted a forged certificate did not matter, because his interpretation of the law was that the candidate was not required to attach his certificate to his declaration? This happened too.

Or think about the most open-and-shut case you can imagine. Say a political candidate is accused of breaking a law that prohibits any candidates from running if they have sworn an oath of allegiance to another country. Let’s say there were cast-iron evidence in front of the judge showing that not only did the candidate swear allegiance to another country, but here is a video of what that oath looked like, and this was the exact wording of the oath.

The judge saw the incontrovertible paperwork and evidence showing that this violation of clearly-written electoral law took place.

And the judgment was…

Wait, I’m not done yet.

Remember the 4th-place-to-winner Supreme Court shenanigans from earlier? What if there was a fresh action filed at the Supreme Court showing incontrovertible evidence that the 4th placed guy submitted fudged evidence that was so badly skewed that the number of votes cast exceeded the total accredited votes - which should automatically void the election - and he thus misled the court into passing a travesty of a judgment? What would you imagine the Nigerian Bench Snake would do? Perhaps admit error and correct the erroneous decision? Maybe issue an apology?

No, of course not. It just gobbles some more of its own tail instead.

Source: The Vanguard

According to the self-eating Nigerian Bench Snake, the Supreme Court’s decisions - even if clearly mistaken or horrendously stupid - are final and beyond any sort of appeal. Barely 2 years later however, when a powerful and well-connected banker approached the same court to set aside its earlier ruling on a matter involving his bank, this happened:

This infuriating lack of consistency is the key, fundamental, recurring theme that you cannot fail to notice within the Nigerian legal arena, and it is something I identified as far back as 2020 when I used to write reviews of Nigerian legislation from a layperson’s viewpoint. Even as a layperson, it was crystal clear to me that the absence of a solid, detailed, and well-defined set of standards was setting everyone up for disaster, and I made the point multiple times.

I believe that this total absence of solid ground in Nigeria’s legal space is why Nigerian lawyers seem pathologically incapable of telling the truth to anyone including themselves. Or perhaps, especially themselves. My theory is that when you spend enough time operating within a system where the guy in 4th place is the winner of an election, and the head of an “independent” arm of government can be removed with only an ex-parte order obtained by another arm of government, and judges are free to tell all kinds of lies in their judgments with no consequence whatsoever, and senior lawyers face no penalties for telling blatant lies in court, and nothing written in the law actually means anything because a judge is free to legally define a cow as a bicycle today, then as a Starlink satellite tomorrow; it eventually interferes with your basic understanding of facts and reality.

I believe that this is why even in mundane everyday Nigerian discourse where he stands to benefit nothing, you cannot fail to see the Nigerian Lawyer lying his ass off for absolutely no reason at all. In the example below, this lawyer attacked me following last year’s expose on Nigeria Air. The story was - as usual - completely factual. In fact not only was the Nigeria Air project binned altogether, with Hadi Sirika getting arrested by the EFCC earlier this year, but I even won the Special Investigative Reporting award category at the 2023 PwC Media Excellence Awards for it, and it made me a finalist at the 2023 AIJC African Investigative Journalist of the Year award. So why was this lawyer so incensed by the truth?

No benefit to him. Just pure love of the game.

I think that in his case as with so many others, his basic sense of reality has been royally tampered with after years of existing in a field where everyone is a pathological liar, nothing is true, nothing is false, everything is transient, and facts are whatever the Nigerian Bench Snake decides they are, depending on what side of the bed he woke up on that day. This absence of a functional handle on reality and lack of appreciation for the long-term consequences of their misanthropic behaviour, is what I believe is behind the alarming and visible degeneration of the Nigerian Lawyer and his cousin the Nigerian Judge into daft, bumbling parodies of themselves.

Think about a silly talking point - any dumb playground argument that you would expect to hear from 7 year-olds who haven’t learned their times table yet - and visualise it in the mouth of a Nigerian lawyer or judge that comes to your mind: “The newly repainted swing in the school playground is made of chocolate.” “India once beat Nigeria 99-1 in a football game where the ball turned into a fiery tiger that killed Sam Okwaraji and pushed Peter Rufai into the goal.”

Compared to the absurdities you have read above, do these things still sound like they would be out of place in a Nigerian courtroom?

The Abduction And Kangaroo Trial Of Dele Farotimi - A Nigerian Legal Disasterclass

When I saw the news of D.F.’s abduction (it was an abduction) and subsequent rendition across state lines to stand trial in Afe Babalola’s home court/stomping ground over an alleged defamation claim, it irritated me enough to bring me out of my self-imposed Twitter exile for discussions involving Nigerian public affairs. Not just because I can relate with the experience of being harassed with remote SLAPP litigation by disingenuous actors using home court advantage for judgment shopping, but more importantly, because I am convinced that this is all bullshit.

Afe Babalola is not the person behind what D.F. is going through.

Don’t get me wrong, he is certainly the vessel being used to get to D.F. - a man whose path is so straight that you normally cannot arm-twist him into shutting up. The legalised brigandage involved in “extraditing” someone from Lagos to Ekiti over what my dead grandma can clearly see should be treated as a civil lawsuit, has Chief Afe Babalola’s imprint all over it.

He is the litigation variant of the classic Nigerian Lawyer who has done with his life what Arjen Robben did with football - perfected one trick and built an entire successful career out of it. However, he is likely only acting as a tool. He is probably not the ultimate mastermind, and I think I can prove it.

Here is an excerpt from his filing at the court in Ekiti concerning D.F.’s supposed defamation of his character:

Sometime on 2/11/2024, one of our lawyers while travelling through Murtala Muhammed Airport bought a book by Dele Farotimi titled ‘NIGERIA AND ITS CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM’ published by Dele Farotimi publishers. He read the said book and immediately brought it to my attention. Many of my lawyers also bought the said book and read same. We received several calls from professional colleagues, friends and family members who watched a program on Channel’s TV wherein Dele Farotimi was interviewed with respect to the said book where he made several defamatory statements against myself, my law firm Afe Babalola & Co (Emmanuel Chambers), Olu Daramola SAN and Ola Faro Esq. We also received several calls from persons who saw excerpts of the book and interview on several social media platforms.

First of all, D.F.’s book came out in June. I remember this distinctly because we exchanged messages a few days after it was released, and he later did an interview about the book on Upgrade TV’s WAYS Show on July 3. This is an important point, so keep it in mind.

According to Afe Babalola’s statement, colleagues, friends, and family members watched a D.F. interview on “Channels TV” where he spoke about the book and purportedly defamed him. This, together with the purchase of the book on November 2 is what brought the issue to his attention. I found that claim interesting and revealing for a number of reasons.

First of all, there was in fact, no Channels TV interview involving D.F. over the past 5 months since the book was released. I know this because I double-checked and I went to the extent of personally confirming this from his assistant. The interview that Afe Babalola was most likely referring to, was the interview below, on Seun Okinbaloye’s Mic On Podcast, 4 whole months ago in August. Seun Okinbaloye is of course, a very familiar face on Channels TV, but his personal podcast has nothing to do with Channels TV. This is also a very important point to note.

If Afe Babalola genuinely felt defamed by D.F.’s book, why did he - by his own admission - wait until November to take action over a book that came out in June? D.F.’s book was and remains widely available at multiple online and offline retailers locally and internationally, including Roving Heights and Amazon. There is no way that a lawyer of Afe Babalola’s profile would not have been aware of the contents of a book released by a high profile legal personality like D.F. within a week of the book’s release. Both TV interviews about the book were done in July and August. So why wait till November?

Even more interestingly, for a supposed defamation claim, there was very little effort to even verify the material facts of the claim. I am not a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, but it took me all of about 5 minutes of basic Google research to find out that Dele Farotimi never at any point appeared on Channels TV to discuss his book. A regular non-lawyer like me was able to immediately recognise the obvious difference between Seun Okinbaloye’s Mic On Podcast, and John Momoh’s 16-time TV Station of the Year, Channels Television.

If this were a serious libel case painstakingly put together by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria with a reputation to protect, why would there be such gaping, obvious errors and mistakes in basic establishment of the claim? He didn’t even spell “Channels TV” correctly (scroll back up to see what he filed). Is it the habit of Afe Babalola’s legal chambers to wait for a whole quarter before filing a defamation claim over something that fundamentally threatens the old man’s reputation - and then to make all manner of inexplicable mistakes in the statement of claim when doing so?

Was this thing really what he wanted to do, or did he in fact, merely throw a suit together hurriedly, and then activate the dark arts of his home court in Ekiti in conjunction with the Nigerian police on the prompting of a bigger masquerade?

A masquerade such as this one perhaps?

I’m raising this question because the timing of D.F.’s arrest concides very conveniently with that of a political project he has been working on to force the Nigerian state to commit to electoral reform. Just over a week after the date that Afe Babalola claims to have become aware of D.F.’s book, D.F. invited a number of people from Nigeria’s media, law, and civil society spaces to take part in a meeting where the peaceful civil resistance actions were disccused for the purpose of forcing the government to amend the Electoral Amendment Act 2022.

What is more, this was not even a secret. D.F. spoke publicly about the proposed December 3 date for a nationwide sit-at-home protest to demand for those 2 electoral reforms items. By the way, while I agreed with him in principle, as I often do, where I disagreed with him was the involvement of conventional civil society actors in any such plans.

My understanding is that US-funded civil society actors - whether they accept it or not - are primarily US foreign policy extensions, who cannot be trusted to choose their country over their funder. Which is why when I attended the first Google Meet session and I saw names like “Aisha Yesufu” there, I clicked the “x” button on my browser, shut down my laptop, and went to play FC 24 instead.

But I digress.

The point is, it was on December 2 that he became aware of the plot to abduct him from Lagos and spirit him away to a gulag somewhere in the middle of nowhere, which is why he held this press conference that day.

The very next day - December 3, the proposed day of peaceful civil disobedience - he was abducted by phone-stealing GI Joes wielding AK-47s, and taken to the gulag in Ekiti where he remains as I type this. As you would expect of the Nigerian Bench Snake in charge of the case, bail was denied, even though defamation of every kind in Nigeria is a bailable offense.

Is all of this happening because Afe Babalola is pissed off about a book that “opened his yansh”? After decades of legal practise in Nigeria, Afe Babalola SAN of all people, would know that the last thing the generality of Nigerians would normally do is spend their own money to read a book recreationally. He of all people, would have been aware of what the book said right from the moment it became available, and he would have known that - as with most other potential PR crises in Nigeria - the best thing to do is nothing. The book had been out for 5 months without making any especially large impact on public discourse in Nigeria.

Did this worldly-wise, nonagenarian Senior Advocate of Nigeria decide to pull a Tomato Hitler, creating the mother of all Streisand Effects, or is he in fact, being put up to this by a bigger masquerade that wants to teach any political opposition a “lesson?”

Well, that’s a question for whoever is interested. My concern in this case however, goes beyond my personal rapport with D.F. and my concern for his well-being. It is about the continued existence of Nigeria as a country that is perceived to exist under some type of law.

Think of the law as a basketball rim. FIBA regulations state that the rim must be exactly 3 metres high with a diameter of exactly 45cm. These are the dimensions required to maintain the competitive sanctity of the game. If the rim were any wider, people could just spam 3-pointers from all over the court and the game would lose meaning. If it were any higher, only South Sudanese would be able to play the game. If it were any lower, it would be too easy to block or dunk, also making the game lose meaning.

In Nigeria, instead of keeping the rim at regulation dimensions, the rim has rather been mounted on a moving backboard that can be 2 metres or 5 metres high, depending on what side of the bed the Bench Snake woke up on. The Bench Snake also has the ability to expand the rim diameter to 70cm, or reduce it to 35cm, depending on which team he wants to win. Effectively, there is no sanctity of the law in Nigeria because there is in fact, no law.

Laws in Nigeria are deliberately written in an infuriatingly ambiguous, awkwardly-worded way, so that they can be interpreted as generously or as fastidiously as the authorities deem fit. Nothing is unambiguously legal or illegal in Nigeria. There is nothing that one can do in Nigeria that is 100% guaranteed to result in a specific legal outcome 100% of the time. No standards are fixed, no enforcement is uniform. Everything is subjective and movable.

In D.F.’s case, there is as usual, no shortage of Wig Snakes lining up to inform anyone who wishes to know that Nigerian law has both civil defamation and criminal defamation. What they are all pretending not to notice is that nobody actually knows what the threshhold for either of these categories is, or when it can and should be used. It would seem that “criminal defamation” appears to be a level of defamation law that is economically restricted to whoever can sufficiently motivate a Bench Snake in Ekiti to carry out the amount of judicial malpractice needed to conceal an ongoing lawsuit from its defendant.

For that matter, there is even significant controversy over whether Ekiti State even has criminal defamation in its laws anymore. If as some insist, it does not in fact have such a law anymore, that would mean that a man currently sits in a gulag in Ado-Ekiti, having been extradited from Lagos to stand trial in Ekiti under a law that doesn’t exist.

If that is the case, then I don’t really think I have anything left to say.

But this will never end well.

The question of whether the law of defamation is a hindrance to freedom of speech and a curtailment to democratic process confronted the Burkinabe, a few years ago. Lohe Issa Konaté was Burkina Faso, that landlocked West African country’s own Dele Farotimi. He was a journalist with the newspaper, L’Ouragan (The Hurricane). Like a tempestuous hurricane, on August 1, 2012, Konaté published a series of articles in the weekly newspaper attacking the conduct of a local prosecutor in a money counterfeiting matter. A week later, Konaté doubled down on this same allegation against the judicial system of Burkina Faso by writing a stinging piece on another matter instituted by the same prosecutor.

Like Farotimi, Konaté shot bullets of expletives, which included “rogue officer,” against the prosecutor while alleging corruption in the country’s judiciary. Angered by this against-method manner of publicly shaming the judicial system, the prosecutor promptly filed a complaint against Konaté through a defamation suit. In it, he alleged public insult and contempt of court against the journalist. Alongside these, the state also filed criminal charges against Konaté and sought damages. In October, 2012, Konaté was found guilty by an Ouagadougou High Court. He was then sentenced to one year imprisonment, fined US $3,000, and a US $9,000 damages to be paid by him to the prosecutor. The court was not done yet. It suspended the L’Ouragan 

newspaper which published the articles for a period of six months. At the Ouagadougou Court of Appeal, the court upheld the judgment.

However, in June, 2013, an application was filed by the Media Legal Defense Initiative (MLDI), an NGO with special bias for providing legal defense to independent media, journalists, and bloggers under threat for their publications. It was filed at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Right (ACHPR). MLDI alleged that the penalties imposed by the Ouagadougou courts on Konaté were excessive and violated his freedom of expression rights as guaranteed by Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. On December 5, 2014, the court, in delivering this landmark judgment, which was its first case regarding freedom of the press, overruled the conviction of Konaté. It stated that the conviction was a disproportionate interference in the applicant’s guaranteed rights to freedom of expression. It noted that public figures in Burkina Faso must develop tolerance for criticisms. It then ordered the Burkina Faso government to amend its legislation on defamation so as to make it compliant with international standards. It also ordered a repeal of Burkina Faso’s custodial sentences for defamation.

Kayode Fayemi, former governor of Ekiti State, last Thursday, in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, delivered a thought-provoking lecture to mark the 80th birthday of journalism colossus and Nigeria’s former ambassador to the Philippines, Yemi Farounbi. In the lecture, entitled “The future and the challenges of the Nigerian State”, Fayemi invoked the spirit of that ever-engaging locus-classicus book on Nigeria, The Famished Road, authored by Ben Okri. In it, Okri looks at the concept of nation-building as a generation-to-generation effort. Each generation possesses its own predilections, with which it confronts nationhood, he says. The generation that will take over from us is an impatient generation. It is the generation called the Gen Z. It was the generation whose impatience for excuses of previous generations goaded into trooping to the streets in what has now been known as the #EndSARS 

and #EndBadGovernance protests. It is fearless. It suffered yet-to-be-properly-enumerated casualties in the process. It is a defiant generation, what Yoruba call the esin-ò-ko’kú (the fly fears no death) generation.

In the lecture, Fayemi compares that generation to post-Apartheid generation of South Africa called the “Born free” generation. The generation literally carries no baggage and holds no captive. It is a generation that the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus was probably referring to when he said you cannot step into the same river twice. Everything happens for and to it at supersonic speed – inventions, technology etc. In Nigeria, that generation didn’t witness the orgy of military rule and a roulette of coups. It didn’t live to see the wickedness of rulers and servile, even if complicit following. One feature that hallmarks this generation is impatience with norms, long-held views, traditions, practices and orthodoxies.

Look at the Farotimi and Afe Babalola legal duel which is the main issue of discourse in Nigeria today. Take a look also at the huge swath of public opinion behind Farotimi. Not that Farotimi himself is a youth, properly defined, but he carries its anger, its venom and dis-alignment with the ruinous Nigerian status-quo. You will locate impatience with orthodoxy in this horde of youthful supporters egging Farotimi on, in spite of his alleged violation of legal orthodoxy. The youth is not interested in the obsessive fascination of the generations before it with norms, whether legal, social or political.

While legal orthodoxy tells us about the ancient rules of defamation, even criminal defamation, and the boundaries that must not be crossed, the youth cares less. It asks brash, carelessly confounding, even if seismic questions. It asks, for instance, how those rules can help in fighting endemic corruption which, with its twin, bad rule, has conspired to under-develop Nigeria. The Nigerian youth is aware that the judiciary is complicit in and has been known to be the imperial castle where corruption resides in Nigeria today. The youth doesn’t care if Farotimi’s allegations against Babalola are unfounded in law. It doesn’t care that Afe, a legal colossus, has the right to defend himself against this autumn tsunami which threatens to drown decades of his contributions to law and statesmanship. It doesn’t care that Afe is one of Nigeria’s greatest private investors in education. It just doesn’t care. Generations before this generation are the enemies of the youth, the Gen Z generation says.

If public opinion is the barometer for measuring guilt or innocence of action, check the social media: Afe Babalola is guilty as charged. I am not surprised that 

Babalola’s counsel, on Friday, chose to address a press conference on the matter, in disregard for the upbraid of Nigerian lawyers, especially senior lawyers’ penchant for discussing cases pending in the court, by Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Kudirat Kekere-Ekun. The CJN upbraided them during her screening in the senate in September. There, she decried senior lawyers’ declarative or authoritative pronouncements that border on the subjudice.

In the Konaté case in Burkina Faso, the ACHPR did not seem to have provided answers to burning questions. One of the beliefs by those against legal orthodoxy is that the law of defamation is anti-democratic and has served as bulwark against the fight against corruption. Enshrined in Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the purpose of the defamation law is to protect reputation from arbitrary mudslinging, abuse and damage. The same Nigerian Constitution, under section 45, limits the exercise of individual freedom for the purpose of ensuring that this right is exercised with caution. Under sections 60, 373-380 of the Criminal Code, provision is made that, where the effect of defamatory words seems to cause a breach of peace, the Police or the Attorney General may prosecute the defendant for offence of criminal libel. Taken in its totality however, the defamation law has been held to constitute an impediment to the guarantee of rights to freedom of expression and a major shield against promotion of democratic virtues.

Among the major cancerous afflictions that Nigeria suffers today is corruption. Judicial corruption is its handmaiden. Corruption’s audacity and permeating influence are terrifying. It is almost an impossibility to get anything done in Nigeria without corrupting officials. All over the world, the renown of Nigerian institutions as beehive of corruption precedes any interface with them. Globally, Nigeria wears its maggots-laced badge as the place where the umbilical cord of corruption was buried. A pervasive stench culture of corruption and impunity reigns here. This culture is almost unanimously accepted as native to us, though it hinders effective governance and erodes public trust. The culture also kills enterprise, industry, talent and excellence, replacing them with mediocrities and reign of the adder-brained in public service.

Since the advent of colonial rule, so much fuss had been made about how ingrained corruption is in the heart of Africa. Some claim it is genetic since, even pre-colonial rule, African relations were watered by kleptocracy. We have some wise-sayings that are enablers of and symptoms of corruption which we were born into. Only a few of our mores and lore frown against corruption. Africa, like Shakespeare’s Othello, however, espouses a good name. “Good name in man and woman…is the immediate jewel of their souls…he that filches from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed,” Shakespeare says.

It becomes difficult to reconcile this same Africa, which espouses the virtues of a good name, with the fact that it, in another breath, also encourages corruption. Take for example an ancient pithy saying in Yorubaland which says, only the one who pre-waters the ground walks on wet ground, or the Igbo saying that it is the person who holds palm-frond that the goat saunters towards. Or the Yoruba saying that, “If you are unlucky not to have a representative in the judicial council, even if you are innocent, you can be found guilty – “B’éèyàn ò l’éni ní’gbìmò, bó ro’jó àre, èbi ló mí a je.” All these affirm unmistakably that corruption and favouritism predate colonialism in Africa. Either in the isms – nepotism, favouritism, cronyism – or even financial subversions, Nigeria has had its share of the vermin of kleptocrats in high and low places, right from the establishment of official structures of public service.

Judicial corruption is king here. Though many attempts have been made to dress it in borrowed robes of euphemisms, judicial corruption is growing in leaps and bounds in Nigeria. In its bother about corruption in the house of justice, Transparency International affirms that all sectors of society rely on the courts to sanction corrupt officials, politicians, citizens and businesspeople, who steal resources and weaken integrity in public and private life. It maintains that, when the judicial system is corrupt, justice cannot be done and the whole society is done for. It was in recognition of this that Kekere-Ekun, at her screening in the Senate, literally swore to tackle corruption.

As if bitten by the metaphysical bug the Yoruba call “sìse-sìse” – inexplicable constant errors – in June last year, Nigerian senator, Adamu Bulkachuwa, whose wife, Zainab, was judge and President of the Court of Appeal, publicly confessed to influencing his wife’s judicial decisions. He had said: “My wife, whose freedom and independence I encroached upon while (she) was in office, and she has been very tolerant and accepted my encroachment and extended her help to my colleagues.” Bulkachuwa, now 84 years old, and a stalwart of the APC, who represented Bauchi North senatorial district in the 9th Senate, made this revelation at a valedictory session of the senate. The video of this revelation instantly went viral.

Miscarriage of justice by judicial officers and judicial corruption are not a new phenomenon in Nigeria. Hubert Ogunde’s famous play, Yòrùbá Ronú – Yoruba, think! – performed in 1964, though aimed as an attack on S. L. Akintola, Premier of the Western Region, was a damming review of intra-Yoruba relations where probity was becoming an anathema. Ogunde excoriated a phenomenon where the guilty are set free and the innocent are adjudged guilty “wón á gbé’bi f’áláre, wón á gb’áre f’élébi”. Earlier, in the 1962-published book, The Incorruptible Judge, written by D. Olu Adegoke, the concept of corruption was brought to the fore and how the judiciary can help tame it through its impartiality. The virus of compromise of court decisions has become cancerous today as it is generally believed to be a recurrent happening. That was why when Bulkachuwa confessed to the crime in the Nigerian parliament, without prodding, many Nigerians saw it as Karma fighting for the common man. But, what has happened ever since?

There are many real but unsubstantiated allegations of cahoots between judges and senior lawyers in perpetration of judicial corruption. You must be against-method and possessing the wild spirit of the Gen Z generation to say this openly and pin names and faces to it. Corruption in the judiciary is however not an openly advertized bazaar. It is operated under cultic darkness by the parties. While lawyers know among themselves who and who are corrupt elements, lawyers also know pliable judges who can be bought for a price. It is to this set of people that they go when there is the need for mortgaging of conscience for a fee.

Both Farotimi and Babalola, as lawyers, are aware that the vermin of corruption is destroying the judicial institution in Nigeria. However, if Farotimi does not have evidence that irresistibly points at the facts before making all those weighty allegations in his book, it will be the height of recklessness by any worshipper ever in the temple of justice. If he has evidence, it will be good for the sanity of the legal system and the expansion of democratic frontiers in Nigeria, especially in combating the demon of judicial corruption.

But, come to think of it, which institution in Nigeria is corruption-free? Are judges and lawyers not part of the corruption whole that is sucking the blood of Nigeria like a leech? Is journalism corruption-free? The other day, the EFCC said it seized 753 duplexes, its highest ever recovery since its inception. The political class swims in sewage, bankers do and Nigeria in totality is one huge stinking sewer.

Legal orthodoxy does not support Farotimi. That is why many lawyers feel scandalized and horrified at the claims in his book, Nigeria and its criminal justice system. However, Farotimi represents the growing impatience with legal norms that are incapable of taming the shrew of rot and underdevelopment. The reality of corruption in the judiciary is one that many Nigerians know, are aware of the destruction it daily wreaks but are consigned into silence because of judicial orthodoxy. After all, two people cannot suffer the calamity of lie-telling; if the one being told does not know he is being told a lie, the one telling it will certainly be aware he is telling a lie. If bystanders to courts do not know that bribery takes place between litigants, lawyers and judges, the lawyers will know, the giver knows and judges who receive the bribe know. Judicial orthodoxy spells out silence if the one who alleges does not have irrebutable evidence to buttress their claim. What Farotimi did with that book of his was to peer torch into the eyes of the leopard in the dark (gbé’ná wo’jú olóólá, ekùn). What he did, even if a mountainous animal like the elephant does it, the animal will get his horns twisted (ìwo è á ló!). Farotimi has figuratively entered a mythic forest called Forest of the Wicked, the “Igbó Òdájú.” It is a forest that can be likened to D. O. Fagunwa’s Igbo Olodumare – the Forest of God. In this forest, there are ghommids which included Esu-kekere-ode, a two-foot-tall ghommid which lives in an anthill and prevents travelers from entering Igbó Olódùmarè. There is also what Fagunwa calls the Anjonnu-Iberu, a ghommid that guards the entrance to Igbó Olódùmarè and a furry-bearded-One, a part-human, part-ghommid creature that lives on a rock.

While entering Igbó Òdájú, elders warn the faint-hearted not to dare come near them. The ones whose mothers have not weaned from suckling are exempted. Mothers are also warned to hold their children with a leash, lest they stray into the forest. It is a forest where flesh-eating animals inhabit – the leopards, lions, jackals, ghommids and the Queen of fishes – Àrògìdìgbà. Farotimi’s matter is made worse because the judges who he alleged as recipients of the alleged bribe will sit in judgment over his matter. Again, apprehending him like a common criminal, and keeping him in jail for this long, for a bail-able offence, are too punitive and a reflection of the vengeful nature of those who wanted him to suffer for standing up to a legal shark in Nigeria’s reckless river.  But if Farotimi survives in this task of breaking the coconut pod on his own head – and I pray he does – he may have begun a major revolution against corruption.

And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age ~ Genesis 21:1-2a

Introduction:

The presence of God is a quintessential supernatural experience we all should aspire to have, and be determined enough to keep in our lives. Our success in life, homes and businesses is dependent on how much of God we have in our spaces.Even the quality of our Christian faith depends on how much of heaven we have in our hearts.

Jesus’ life and ministry thrived on the abiding presence of the Father, which He fully enjoyed. Ever before He commencedHis gracious works on earth, He established an open-heaven access. Though He came from there, He still ensured He maintained constant touch with base till the end (John 8:28-29).

Divine visitations always bring about sweet manifestations of God’s incredible power and goodness in the lives of the visited. This is true whether He personally shows up or He deploys His covenant emissarieson the assignment (Luke 10:1-9).

God is very eager to visit His people again this season! And by this message, He’s marking and scheduling you for His special life-changing visitation. Alleluia!

The Manifestation of the Incredible Power of God’s Visitation

No matter how difficult any circumstancemight be, when God steps in, His glory changes the story, and His majestic power forcefully terminates every satanic contradiction.

Some years ago, I was requested to pray for a woman who had been bedfast for several weeks. When I saw her, I became very concerned in my spirit because of the helpless state I met there. But then, I had an assurance within me that God was going to help her.

After sharing few words of encouragement with her to focus her faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, we offered a short prayer to the Lord for her healing. At that instance, there was nothing to suggest that anything had happened, but by the following day she had become healed, whole and agile.

Later in her testimony, she said in the night after the healing prayer, she had an open vision, wherein she saw someone that looked exactly like me in her room, dressed as a medical doctor, who administered some medical procedure on her and made her to swallow some pills. Immediately she became completely healed.

Certainly, that was not me or any other human being, but an angel of the Lord who visited her to carry out our order for her healing. And after that supernatural visitation, the rest was a story of God’s glory.

The incredible power of God’s visitationalso fences off attacks of the devil, and nipsthe future plans of the wicked in the bud. The King of Syria, in one of his battles against Israel, erroneously thought that there was a black sheep within their camp because even their well kept military plans were always foiled by Israel (2Kings 6:8-12).

No, it wasn’t any human being playing the double agent, but the Lord Himself handicapping the enemy via the prophetic ministry of Elisha.

Furthermore, God’s visitation enforces thefulfillment of prophecies from dateless pasts, and terminates age-long barrennessand reproaches (Genesis 21:1-2). It puts a perpetual end to any present exile experience, and grants instant restoration to His people (Jeremiah 29:10).

When God sees our pain, He comes in His power to relieve us of our anguish.Thereafter, seasons are shifted, the enemyis defeated, breakthroughs occur and new things are supernaturally birthed for us. In the end, Jesus Christ gets all the glory.

Provoking The Power of the Lord’s Visitation

Undoubtedly, it is God’s earnest desire that all His children should regularly enjoy the incredible power of His visitation. Nevertheless, it’s our personal responsibility to make deliberate preparations for this.

Preparation is an essential groundwork for greatness, and the very backbone of prominence (Proverbs 6:6-11). We mustfully prepare because, as people say, opportunities dance with those who are ready at the dancing floor.

The Bible is replete with examples of men and women who enjoyed divine visitation at different times and in various forms.Abraham stands out as a reference point for supernatural blessings (Galatians 3:13-14). Nevertheless, we must be ready to walk in his steps to enjoy a guaranteed access to this order of blessings (Isaiah 51:1-3; John 8:39; Galatians 3:29).

Abraham was a very spiritual man, and full of integrity (Genesis 12: 1-3; 14:21-23). Hehad strong faith in God, with a fair share of prosperity mentality (Romans 4:1-21; Genesis 13:14-15). He was a liberal soul, and a tither (Genesis 18:1-10; 14:19-20).

Of course, Abraham was also very diligent in business (Genesis 13:1-2). These outlined above are some of his salient attributes that we are encouraged to sincerely and earnestly imitate.

Meanwhile, our wise preparations must also include a lifestyle of righteousness, prayerfulness, thanksgiving, fasting, purposeful living, true obedience and earnestness in taking stands that favour the Lord’s covenant demands (Psalms 15:1-4).

A practical demand of the covenant that can provoke divine visitation for anyone, any day and everywhere, is the giving faith(1Samuel 1:11). Abraham’s life clearly exemplified this fact (Genesis 15:9-21).

God told him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. As he wanted to carry out the instruction, God provided him a lamb for the sacrifice instead, and swore to bless him (Genesis 22:1-18). Consequently, Abraham ended his journey a roundly blessed man (Genesis 24:1).

God also visited, with diverse blessings, many other Bible characters — Job, David, Solomon, Peter, etcetera — who offered acceptable sacrifices unto Him (Job 29:2-11; 2Samuel 24:24-25; 1Kings 3:1-13; Luke 5:1-10). God is immutable; if we care to do what they did, we will certainly get what they got.

Meanwhile, every significant encounter in the Christian life works by faith (Matthew 21:20-22). Faith’s adventures sometimes appear risky, but that’s what makes it a worthwhile walk. It was risky when the three Hebrew boys said they wouldn’t bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image; eventually, God showed up for them in a unique way.

Real faith in Christ works wonders! The woman with the long standing issue of blood said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well." She did, the power of God hit her immediately, and she was healed of the affliction (Mark 5:25-34).

Beloved, God is very eager to visit you in your plight. Right now, He is rending the heavens by the power of His Spirit to come down and eliminate darkness in all its shades and forms in your life-space (Luke1:78-79). May you not be found unprepared on the day of His visitation, in Jesus Name.Amen. Happy Sunday!

 ____________________

Archbishop Taiwo Akinola,

Rhema Christian Church,

Otta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

Connect with Bishop Akinola via these channels:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/bishopakinola

SMS/WhatsApp: +234 802 318 4987

James warns that a double-minded man is unlikely to receive anything from the Lord. (James 1:7-8). By the same token, Jesus does not bring to the Father those who already have a father. To be led to the heavenly Father, we must repudiate our earthly father. 

For God to be our Father, we must be born of God. This means we must be born again. Jesus says:  

“Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” (John 3:3). 

Inheritance of Salvation

If God is our Father, we are heirs of God:

“The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:16-17). 

If God is our Father, then all things belong to us:

“Let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come- all are yours. And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” (1 Corinthians 3:21-23).

Therefore, a man blundered by seeking Jesus’ help in securing his inheritance from his earthly father:

“Then one from the crowd said to Him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ But He said to him, ‘Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?’ And He said to them, ‘Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.’” (Luke 12:13-15).

Jesus has come to reveal our inheritance from God, our Father. So, how can He be expected to help us secure an inheritance from another father? That is a contradiction in terms. We inherit sin from our earthly fathers, so Jesus’ assignment is to sever our earthly inheritance.

“Then Peter began to say to him, ‘See, we have left all and followed you.’ So Jesus answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time - houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions- and in the age to come, eternal life.” (Mark 10:28-30).

Note that we receive a hundredfold of everybody and everything we leave but our father.

We have only one Father: God. We have no other Father but God. 

Like Father, Like Son

However, we have brothers and sisters and children all over the world through the union of the Holy Spirit who is the blood of Christ:

“He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.” (Acts 17:26). 

As God’s children, we live in God and move in God and have our being in God:

“For we are also His offspring.” (Acts 17:28).

Accordingly, Jesus is now our brother; as He demonstrated when He was told His mother and brothers were looking for Him.  He answered:

“Who is My mother and who are My brothers?’ And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, ‘Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.’” (Matthew 12: 48-50). 

Take note again that other believers can be brothers or sisters or mothers to Jesus. But none can be His father. Jesus has no other father but God.

According to the principles of the kingdom of God a son bears the nature of his father and he does the works of his father. Jesus says to his Jewish adversaries:

“‘I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.’ They answered and said to Him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.’” (John 8:38-40). 

We cannot do the works of God unless we acknowledge him as Father. But if God were our Father, we would do the works of God. 

Moreover, we cannot bear God’s divine nature unless He becomes our Father. But if He is our Father then:

“By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable us to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.” (2 Peter 1:3-4).

God Copycats

The Fatherhood of God provides the only motivation we need to be exactly like God. This is because:

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.” (James 1:17-18).

Our call to perfection is for one singular reason: because our Father in heaven is perfect. Jesus says:

“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48). 

He also says we should love our enemies for the same vital reason: that we may be sons of our Father in heaven:

“Love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore, be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” (Luke 6:34-36).

Our righteousness must come from a desire to be like our Father in heaven. 

Our Father

Bilquis Sheikh was born into a rich and conservative family in a non-Christian nation. Her husband was a General in the army, and she lived a life of opulence, junketing to Paris, London and Rome.  But her world came to an end when her husband left her. Then her world was turned upside down yet again when Christian missionaries preached to her and gave her a bible. 

In a country where conversion to Christianity was punishable by death, she started reading the bible in secret, while also continuing with the faith of her birth. But she soon became confused. Which one is the true faith? Which book reveals the true God? 

In her confusion, Bilquis finally knelt down before the Lord. She held the book of her traditional faith in one hand and the bible in the other, and cried out to God: “Which one is your book?” 

It is better to hear her testimony in her own words:

“A remarkable thing happened. Nothing like it had ever occurred in my life in quite this way. For I heard a voice inside my being, a voice that spoke to me as clearly as if I were repeating words in my inner mind. They were fresh, full of kindness, yet at the same time full of authority.

‘In which book do you meet me as your Father?’” 

CONCLUDED.

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